Seeing her brother get into the brown sedan, Yang Rui had no choice but to follow.
The car reversed, turned the steering wheel, and Yang Jian floored the accelerator, the vehicle swiftly merging into the street traffic.
The new car didn't have license plates yet, and the temporary plate was put away. There was no need to worry about someone remembering the plate and calling the police. As long as they weren't caught at the scene, nothing would happen.
"Brother, whose car is this? You just got your license a few days ago, and you borrowed such a nice car. What if you damage it?"
Yang Rui finally noticed that her brother's car was new, the plastic wrap on the seats not even fully removed.
"It's already damaged. Why do you always get into trouble every time I see you? What happened just now?"
Yang Jian kept checking the rearview mirror while driving, looking for any police cars chasing him.
"It was just a few thugs. I was waiting for you at the entrance, and they saw there was no one around and started harassing me. If you had come any later, I would have been kidnapped by them. It's all your fault. If you had come earlier, none of this would have happened?"
"Alright, alright, it's my fault, my fault. Mainly, I didn't know the way, otherwise, I would have been here sooner."
"Brother, what do we do about damaging someone else's car? Such a nice car, it will probably cost thousands to repair. Dad will kick you out again when we get back."
"It's okay, this car is insured, and the insurance is already effective. We can get it repaired for free by reporting the scene."
"But it's still not good, is it? Such a nice car, probably only a few days old, and you damaged it. The owner must be unhappy. If it were your car, would you be happy?"
Yang Jian, seeing no one chasing them, smiled happily. "I would be a little unhappy, but others won't be."
"What do you mean?"
"Because this car is mine. If the car is damaged, I'll naturally be heartbroken. What does it have to do with anyone else?"
Yang Rui pouted. "Your car? Dream on. It's not April Fool's Day today. Making jokes like this isn't funny at all."
Yang Jian didn't say anything, took the registration from the right-side storage compartment, and tossed it to her.
Yang Rui opened the registration with a puzzled look, her eyes widening, her expression incredibly rich. She then flipped the registration back and forth to confirm, as if it weren't fake.
"Wow, brother, is this car really yours?"
If it weren't for the seatbelt, Yang Rui would have almost jumped up.
"Of course, it's real. I told you the day I bought the car, but you didn't believe me."
"Wow, wow, our family actually has a car, and it's a luxury sedan! It's much more advanced than all the common Santana, Xiali, QQ, and Alto cars on the street. I'm so excited! Brother, did you win the lottery? How did you get the money to buy such a nice car?"
Yang Rui finally believed the reality before her: her family owned a luxury car.
"I didn't win the lottery. A while ago, I helped my boss close a very large timber deal. This car is his reward to me, along with ten thousand yuan in cash."
This explanation was something Yang Jian had prepared long ago, otherwise, he wouldn't know how to explain it to his family.
As for fighting in the town and going to Han City with Brother Hao, his father probably didn't know. Mobile phones weren't common back then, and older people didn't have them. Their home was twenty to thirty kilometers from the town. As long as Wu Wangchun didn't go back and spread the word, the villagers of Yangli Village wouldn't know about his affairs outside.
"He rewarded you with such a nice car and ten thousand yuan in cash? Brother, why is your boss so good? How big of a deal did you close for him?"
Yang Rui clearly didn't quite believe it.
"It's the boss named Wu who helped me fight last time. He contracted a forest farm worth over twenty million yuan but couldn't find a sales channel. So, I contacted my former construction site boss, and he introduced me to several big timber business owners. They bought all his timber, and I made over three million yuan in profit by reselling it. So, in his excitement, he gave me such a generous reward."
"Brother, then you've met a benefactor! Now it's good, you have a way to pay back Big Sister's money, and you're driving a new car back. Dad probably won't hit you anymore."
"I hope his anger has subsided."
Yang Jian was a bit helpless. His father had a violent temper. He had practiced martial arts with his father since he was young. As long as his movements were not in place, or if he got into fights outside, he would be beaten. Even after he grew up, this habit hadn't changed. He had to be beaten for his mistakes. It's just that his father was getting older, and his strength for hitting had greatly diminished.
"Brother, will you still work for that boss after the Qingming Festival? I want to go to school in your car."
Yang Rui had gotten addicted to riding in the car. It felt great to have a private car.
"Not for now. I have to get the car repaired tomorrow. It looks quite serious, and it will probably take ten days to half a month to fix. I can't take you to school."
"Alas, if only I had waited for you at school, I wouldn't have encountered those thugs, and your car wouldn't have been damaged. Then I could have enjoyed the privilege of being driven."
Yang Rui pouted, full of regret.
The siblings chatted, and in an hour, they arrived at Yangli Village.
"Oh, isn't this Er Jian from the Shuanglin family? Did you make a fortune outside? You're actually driving a sedan back."
"Yeah, this car looks quite good. It must be worth a lot of money."
"This car is still new, how did it get damaged?"
As soon as they reached the big locust tree at the village entrance, the villagers who were squatting there to eat dinner all swarmed around, discussing it volubly. Yang Jian was the second eldest in his family, so everyone in the village called him Er Jian.
There weren't many motorcycles in the village, and not a single car. Yang Jian suddenly driving a car back was indeed a rare sight.
They were all from the same village and couldn't ignore each other. Yang Jian had to get out of the car and take out cigarettes to distribute to everyone.
Yang Rui also proudly came out to explain, "This is my brother's newly bought car, but he just got his license not long ago and his skills aren't good. He hit a tree on the way back. It's not a big problem, it can be repaired for a few thousand yuan."
"Rui Rui, you talk big. A few thousand yuan is not a big problem? Did your brother really make a fortune outside?"
Aunt Guihua from next door was also there, her tone clearly tinged with jealousy. Her husband was a cousin of Yang Shuanglin, and he worked with his two sons as skilled steel fixers on construction sites. The father and sons earned a lot of money in a year, and their family's life had always been better than Yang Jian's family.
There's a local saying in the countryside: relatives wish their relatives don't get rich, and uncles wish their uncles stay poor. People from the same village can't stand seeing others live better than themselves, especially among uncles and aunts.
"Auntie, we don't have to pay for the car repair. It's insured, so it's free maintenance. My brother is an assistant to a big boss in Hancheng. He recently closed a big deal for the company, and the boss gave him some commission as a reward, so he bought this car. Because you need a car to talk business when you go out now, otherwise, no one will pay attention to you."
While Yang Rui was bragging, she was also speaking the truth. Who doesn't care about face these days? Even if they have very little money in their pockets, they want to appear wealthy in front of others.